The room was quiet, save for the steady electrical hum of computers and the soft tip-tap of keyboards and mice. Five operators sat in line, each with their face illuminated by the vivid glow of their monitors.

They were coming up to 3am, and they knew the requests would soon come flooding in, not because paranormal connections where higher at this time than any other, but because that’s what non-dead souls thought to be true. Continue reading “Operator”

I’m currently querying my first ever novel. It’s stressful, to say the least. It feels like there’s so much at stake and the thought of getting it wrong is horrifying, never mind the fear that the book is just pure rubbish which no literary agent in the history of time would ever be interested in representing. Okay, we’re getting into rant territory now; focus, Ellie. Continue reading “What Querying Feels Like”

This is probably too many vegetables for one person to carry unaided. If I lose my grip on these handles I’ll be chasing cauliflowers and apples down the street and looking like a prize idiot. Good exercise, though, I guess. Ugh.

Why does there have to be a bakery three shops down from the greengrocers? Why do they have to leave their door wide open so that the street is filled with the scent of freshly baked pastries and melting chocolate? Why, why, why? Continue reading “Resistance is Futile”

“I’ve had a bad week,” says Wendy, as she swirls her car keys around and around her finger. “It’s because I was stressed. Work cut my hours on Monday.”

Gasps and tsks and murmurs go up from the group.

“I can’t believe it. I can’t afford to be working less. I think I’m going to have look for a new job altogether, and I’m not looking forward to that because I’m shit at interviews. Anyway, that was just the start of it. Continue reading “Confessions”

I turned 27 a couple of weeks ago. It’s a weird age, 27. Slap bang in the middle between 25 (oh, I’m a sassy mid-twenties chick, cool) and 30 (oh, I’m an actual FULLY GROWN ADULT NOW, fuck). All of a sudden, I feel all grown up, even though most of the time I still think (and probably act) like a teenager.

I considered doing a 30 before 30 list, since I see so many of them on blogs and on YouTube. But with only 3 years left before that milestone, I felt like starting a list now would be too much pressure. So, in the interest of jumping on another trend that I’ve seen floating around for years, I’ll give the “27 things I learned by age 27” thing a go. I have much wisdom to share, obviously. Continue reading “27 Things I Learned by Age 27”

February has flown by in a flurry of novel-finishing (finally), querying (ARGH!), socialising, and planning for future writing projects. I still managed to cram in three books, and all of them were wonderful.

Since this is the last post of the month, it’s worth mentioning that my posting schedule is set to change from March onwards. I’m planning on posting an extra story each week, and increasing my blogs from monthly to weekly. No, I don’t really have the time, but I can forgo sleep and sanity, right? Continue reading “February Reads”